The Web has erupted with news, opinion and practical guidance on the new FTC rules that apply to disclosures on blogger freebies. As a public service, NutriSupLaw offers a sampling of the best of initial analysis.
If your marketing plan includes raising awareness through bloggers, read the latest FTC announcement on disclosure of freebies. The agency says that bloggers who review products given to them for free should disclose that fact in some circumstances. Failure to do so will not affect thebloggers, but could trigger FTC action against marketers for what the agency considers deceptive practices.
The Federal Trade Commission provides advertising lessons in its proposed settlement with CVS to refund nearly $2.8 million to buyers of the retailer’s Air Shield dietary supplement. The drug store chain made cold-prevention claims for the product that were similar to those for competing products, Airborne and Germ Defense. Those product claims also ran afoul of the FTC and cost their companies.
This time, the news report is real. We earlier identified News 13 and News 29 as being faux-TV news Web sites that touted the health benefits of resveratrol and acai. Now, CBS News — the real network — is reporting on what appears to be the same Hollywood-based company, FWM Laboratories, in a national broadcast and an accompanying Web story headlined, “Buyer Beware: Web Supplement Scams.”
Attention copywriters. The FDA has taken out a bright red pen and is poised to mark up your product statements. The green shades (an antiquated description of newspaper copyeditors) signaled much closer review of health claims with a warning to General Mills about oat cereal. The agency has also revised a health claim for selenium, [...]
In the conclusion to the FTC’s follow-up action against Kevin Trudeau for making deceptive claims about his books, a federal judge has ordered Trudeau to pay more than $37 million for violating a 2004 stipulated order by misrepresenting the content of his book, “The Weight Loss Cure ‘They’ Don’t Want You to Know About.” We [...]
